Ford High School teacher earns top educator honor

When Ford High School English teacher Mark Julien realized a school assembly was a cover story to keep secret a prestigious honor about to be awarded, he began to wonder which of his colleagues would be most deserving.

“It was going through my mind who I thought that should be,” Julien said.

Moments later, he heard the honoree’s name announced: “Mark Julien.”

Advertisement

Julien, a teacher for 13 years, the past 10 at Ford, was the first 2013 recipient of a Milken Educator Award and the only Michigan teacher so honored this year. Julien was presented the surprise honor during an assembly at the school before students, staff and visitors. Included with the award is a $25,000 cash prize.

“I feel very privileged to teach at Henry Ford II High School,” said Julien, noticeably stunned by the news. “Something like this I’ll probably spend the rest of my career trying to live up to.”

Milken Educator Awards are presented by the Milken Family Foundation to educators who demonstrate exceptional educational talent through effective instructional practices and student achievement results. Widely considered one of the most prestigious educator honors in the nation, the Milken Educator Award has been dubbed the “Oscar of Teaching.”

Unlike many awards, teachers don’t apply nor are they nominated for the award. State departments of education review potential candidates and then make recommendations to the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Milken Foundation. Recipients are not notified until they hear their names called, like Julien did Tuesday.

Professionals from all walks of life who distinguish themselves are honored with awards such as the Heisman Trophy, Emmys, Oscars and Nobel Prizes, Foley noted.

“The Milken Educator Award says, in a very public way, the greatest educators should be recognized, too,” she said.

In an era when teachers and schools take their share of criticism, Julien defends his profession and his colleagues.

“We have been maligned, and I think unfairly so,” he said. “… There isn’t a business model out there than can match the success that we produce in schools.

For Julien, the motivation is simple.

“For us, it’s the kids,” he said. “It’s giving them the opportunities that our predecessors gave us … I’m the product of a working-class family, first-generation (to go to) college because of teachers.

“If the American Dream is alive, I think it’s in schools.”

Julien’s award marks the second time in five years a teacher from Utica Community Schools earned the honor. In 2008, then-Collins Elementary School teacher Leah Einhaus won a Milken award. Einhaus is now a district administrator.

Two years later, Patricia Paxton of Krause Later Elementary School in Armada also won the honor.

“We have a great community, we have great students and we have great teachers in our district,” said Christine Johns, Utica Community Schools superintendent. “What occurs in our classrooms day to day is of utmost importance.

“While we have two Milken (recipients) in the past five years, the fact is we have tremendous teachers in all of our schools and all of our classrooms. Mark Julien represents what’s great about our teachers.”